The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz

Superman tops world box office charts

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 05:03:06 GMT

As of June 16, "Man of Steel" grossed $196.68 million worldwide after its first weekend in commercial theaters, reports Rentrak. The new superhero blockbuster has come out in 25 territories and already reigns triumphant in North America, where it has raked in $125.08 million, or 63.6 percent of its global sales, since its release on Thursday ...

Guitarist Roger Wang’s ode

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 03:36:17 GMT

KOTA KINABALU, SABAH, June 16, 2013 - Master fingerstyle guitarist Roger Wang marks Father’s Day today with the launch of his new song on YouTube, dedicating his first vocal-and-guitar piece to his 6-year-old daughter. The song, Fairy Tales, also showcases Wang's vocals for the first time. It is accompanied by a four-and-a-half-minute music video ...

From YouTube to the big screen, Filipino prisoners dance to fame

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 01:46:01 GMT

MANILA, June 14 – They first gained fame on YouTube, dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. Now, the orange-uniformed men at a central Philippine jail make their big screen debut in a movie about prison reforms. The 98-minute movie, “Dance of the Steel Bars”, was shot at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, with 750 prisoners ...

‘Ghost Recon’ in Michael Bay’s crosshairs

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 05:50:19 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 13 – Michael Bay will oversee the film adaptation of Ubisoft’s military video game series “Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon”, reveals Variety. The director of “Armageddon” and “Transformers” will be teaming up with Warner Bros. on this project. Bay, already attached as executive producer, might also direct this feature based on the video ...

British music festivals in tune with older, cashed-up fans

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:54:19 GMT

LONDON, June 13 – Britain’s summer music festival season kicks off this week with a line-up ranging from the Rolling Stones to Beyonce to exiled Tibetan monks designed to attract the modern festival-goer – a 36-year-old with a well-padded wallet. Music festivals have become an integral part of summer for British music fans, with Bon Jovi and ...

Families take sides in wake of Bollywood actress’s suicide

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 23:30:58 GMT

MUMBAI, June 13 — Two Bollywood families have broken their silences over the suicide of starlet Jiah Khan after police arrested actor Suraj Pancholi in connection with his girlfriend’s death last week. Pancholi was arrested on Monday after Khan’s mother, the 1980s actress Rabia Khan, made public a six-page letter apparently written by the ...

A Minute With: John Krasinski on life after ‘The Office’

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:33:11 GMT

NEW YORK, June 12 — John Krasinski is best known for playing the handsome, affable salesman Jim Halpert on the hit TV series “The Office,” but that could change as the versatile actor tackles new projects, including writing two new scripts. The Massachusetts native will appear on the big screen in the 3D animated film “Monsters University,” which ...

Hungary ‘Meistersinger’ triumphs over flooding Danube

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:25:03 GMT

BUDAPEST, June 12 — The flood-cresting Danube outside Budapest's Bela Bartok concert hall threatened to drown audience, singers, chorus and orchestra alike, but it couldn't dampen the high spirits inside for a new production of Wagner's “Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg”. The crowning glory of conductor Adam Fischer's eighth annual “Wagner Days” ...

Ringo Starr puts his life on display in Grammy Museum exhibit

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 06:28:04 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 12 – Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr put snapshots of his musical and creative life on display in a new exhibit, “Ringo: Peace & Love”, which opened yesterday at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. Starr, 72, was on hand at the exhibit, which offers an in-depth look at his career as he rose to fame with The Beatles. Highlights ...

Dispatch audio reveals details of Paris Jackson suicide attempt

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 00:41:03 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 12 – Paris Jackson, the 15-year-old daughter of late pop star Michael Jackson, swallowed 20 pain pills and cut her arm last week in an apparent suicide attempt, according to emergency dispatch audio released yesterday. The audio released by the Los Angeles County Fire Department casts new light on the June 5 incident at the ...

Rogen, Goldberg kill off celebrity friends in ‘This Is the End’

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 00:28:11 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 12 – Actor Seth Rogen and writer-producer Evan Goldberg, known for R-rated stoner comedies such as “Superbad” and “Pineapple Express”, make their debut as directors this week with “This Is the End”. Rogen, 31, and Goldberg, 30, told Reuters that they wanted to push the boundaries of comedy by having actors play themselves dealing ...

‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘The Big Bang Theory’ big winners of Critics’ Choice Awards

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:17:35 GMT

NEW YORK, June 11 — The epic fantasy and comedy series came out on top at the third Broadcast Television Journalists Association's awards ceremony on June 10. Thanks to "Game of Thrones," voted Best Drama Series, HBO emerged as the big victor of the evening. The cable network also won Best TV Movie for the biopic "Behind the Candelabra," for which ...

John Malkovich has walk-on role in rescue of bleeding man

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 01:17:22 GMT

TORONTO, June 11 — Actor John Malkovich, known for playing unhinged villains in a 30-year film career, took on the role of real life hero this past week, rushing to the rescue of an Ohio man who was lying bleeding on a Toronto street. Jim Walpole, 77, and his wife Marilyn had just left a downtown pub on Thursday when Walpole fell, cutting his ...

Low-budget ‘The Purge’ scares up RM113m in tickets

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:46:35 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 11 — Low-budget horror film “The Purge” jumped to the top of the North American box office in its opening weekend with US$36.4 million (RM113 million) in ticket sales, estimates showed yesterday. Universal’s US$3 million feature stars Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey as parents fighting off a home invasion during a night when all ...

Cavill dons Superman’s cape in ‘Man of Steel’

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:19:52 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 11 — British actor Henry Cavill will be making his grand Hollywood entrance as the latest big screen incarnation of the all-American superhero Superman, in director Zack Snyder’s dark and gritty “Man of Steel,” which opens in US theaters on Friday. Cavill, 30, so far best known for 16th century TV drama “The Tudors” and the 2011 ...

‘Glee’ star Jane Lynch, wife to divorce

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 00:08:21 GMT

NEW YORK, June 11 — “Glee” star Jane Lynch and her wife, a clinical psychologist, are divorcing after three years of marriage, People magazine reported yesterday. “Lara and I have decided to end our marriage. This has been a difficult decision for us as we care very deeply about one another,” Lynch said in a statement to People magazine which ...

Cher to appear on ‘The Voice’ season finale next week

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 23:44:00 GMT

NEW YORK, June 11 — Cher will appear on the season finale of the singing competition series “The Voice” on June 18, making her first live TV performance in more than 10 years, NBC said yesterday. The singer and actress, who has won an Oscar as well as Grammy and Emmy awards, will perform “Woman’s World,” a new single from her album of the same ...

Black Sabbath to release new album, go on world tour

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 23:17:31 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 11 — Forty-three years ago Black Sabbath released its debut self-titled album, a collection of songs inspired by occult themes and powered by heavy-metal guitar riffs. Now, three of the original band members - singer Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler - and drummer Brad Wilk, of Rage Against the ...

Robin Thicke holds onto UK singles number one spot

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 15:05:06 GMT

LONDON, June 10 — American R&B singer Robin Thicke held onto the number one spot in the British singles charts for a second week with “Blurred Lines”, notching up the biggest one-week sale of the year, the Official Charts Company said yesterday. The song, which features hip hop artists T.I. and Pharrell Williams, sold nearly 200,000 copies during ...

Artist uses toilet humour to protest Cyprus bailout

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 14:39:35 GMT

NICOSIA, June 10 — A Cypriot artist found a novel way to protest over Cyprus’s financial meltdown today, lining up 20 sculptures resembling a cross between toilets and tombstones outside the island’s Central Bank. Arranged in two rows on a pavement outside the building, the white “toilets” made of concrete and plaster caused traffic to slow down ...

‘Kinky Boots’ wins six Tony awards including best musical

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 05:01:05 GMT

NEW YORK, June 10 – “Kinky Boots” won six Tony awards yesterday including the top award of best musical and a prize for its composer, pop queen Cyndi Lauper, as Broadway presented its top honours. Lauper won best score for her first Broadway musical, “Kinky Boots”, an adaptation of a British film about a struggling shoe factory reinventing itself ...

No charges after Simon Cowell hit by eggs in TV show

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 01:48:37 GMT

LONDON, June 10 – A woman who threw eggs at international talent show guru Simon Cowell during the finals of the popular television contest “Britain’s Got Talent” will not face charges, show organisers said yesterday. Cowell was one of four judges watching two brothers singing during the live televised performance on Saturday night when a viola ...

It’s drag queens vs schoolgirls at Broadway’s Tony awards

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 00:02:14 GMT

NEW YORK, June 10 – A precocious moppet with an edge is facing off against a proud drag queen when the annual Tony awards, Broadway’s highest honours, being bestowed last night. “Kinky Boots”, an adaptation of a British film about a struggling shoe factory reinventing itself by making boots for drag queens, topped the Tony nominations with 13. But ...

Actress Helen Mirren turns ferocious in new ‘Monsters’ movie

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 06:03:49 GMT

LONDON, June 9 — British actress Helen Mirren had no trouble transforming herself from monarch to menacing creature for the new “Monsters, Inc.” animated movie, but said she’s not so frightening in real life. The 67-year-old veteran of stage and screen made headlines last month when she stormed out of a London theatre dressed as Queen Elizabeth to ...

LA judge orders probe after Paris Jackson suicide attempt

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 03:58:19 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 9 — A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ordered a probate court investigator to make recommendations about the “health, education and welfare” of Paris Jackson, teenage daughter of late singer Michael Jackson, after an apparent suicide attempt this week, according to court documents. Judge Mitchell Beckloff ordered the ...

Prominent East German artist Willi Sitte dies at 92

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 23:51:13 GMT

BERLIN, June 9 — Willi Sitte, one of the most prominent painters of former Communist East Germany, whose talent also brought him recognition in the West, has died at the age of 92 after a long illness, German media reported yesterday. Sitte was one of the leading representatives of East Germany’s officially sanctioned “socialist realism” style, ...

Eiffel Tower becomes musical tool for New York composer

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 00:51:48 GMT

PARIS, June 8 – Star of songs, sketches and the silver screen for over a hundred years, the Eiffel Tower is now taking the lead role in a musical composition that will see the landmark speak for itself. The structure is an instrument for a piece to be entitled “Tower music” – a project conceived by US composer Joseph Bertolozzi. With latex ...

Watch: final trailer for ‘Man of Steel’

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 15:08:35 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 7 — A new trailer has been released for the latest Superman movie, showing action scenes and summing up Kal-El's life, from arriving on Earth as a baby to becoming Superman. In addition to Henry Cavill as the superhero, the trailer shows Russell Crowe as his father, Michael Shannon as evil general Zod, and Amy Adams as reporter ...

Robert Rodriguez mulls Latino James Bond TV series

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 06:45:25 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 7 — The US director is concocting an action/adventure series featuring a Latino James Bond, according to Deadline.com. The results will be earmarked for El Rey Network, a TV channel Robert Rodriguez is gearing up to launch later this year. The Texan filmmaker is teaming up on this project with Roberto Orci, who scripted J.J. ...

Amitabh Bachchan switches gears for TV acting debut

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 05:18:06 GMT

MUMBAI, June 7 — After dominating Indian cinema for more than four decades, Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan is gearing up for his television-acting debut this year. Bachchan (picture) is no stranger to television, having hosted several seasons of the Indian version of the quiz show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” but this will be his first role ...

‘Little Prince’ voice cast to star Jeff Bridges, Marion Cotillard and James Franco

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 04:13:11 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 7 — Rachel McAdams, Benicio del Toro and Paul Giamatti have likewise all signed up to lend their voices to an upcoming animated adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s children’s classic, reports The Hollywood Reporter. First announced four years ago, the project, financed by Onyx Films, is now finally being fleshed out with the ...

Jackie Chan leaves imprints in Hollywood for the second time

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 02:46:04 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 7 — Chinese action film star Jackie Chan yesterday became the first person to twice leave the imprints of his hands and feet in cement at Hollywood’s famed Chinese Theatre. Chan, who has starred in some 150 films in a career spanning more than 40 years, first left imprints in the forecourt of the theatre in 1997, adding to the ...

US best-selling author Judy Blume hits big screen finally

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 01:09:36 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 7 — After numerous starts and stops by Hollywood executives to project Judy Blume books onto the big screen, the best-selling author and her filmmaker son decided to make it happen. The film adaptation of her 1981 young adult book “Tiger Eyes” opens in theatres today and simultaneously on iTunes, DirecTV and On-Demand. It was a ...

Justin Bieber books space voyage on Virgin Galactic

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 00:35:03 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 7 — Canadian pop star Justin Bieber is the latest celebrity to reach for the stars, signing up to go into space with Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic. British entrepreneur Branson announced on Twitter on Wednesday that Bieber, 19, and his manager, Scooter Braun, were the latest “future astronauts.” Bieber tweeted in response, ...

Archie comics spins into first live-action film

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 00:02:52 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 7 — Comic book teenagers Archie, Veronica, Betty and Jughead are coming to the big screen for the first time in a new live-action feature film based on the long-running “Archie” comic series, its publisher said yesterday. The comedy will be produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and will feature the lead “Archie” characters in a high ...

Hollywood’s mermaid, Esther Williams, dies at 91

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 23:20:56 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 7 — Esther Williams, whose experiences as a young swimming champion led to a career of Hollywood “aqua-musicals” designed just for her, died yesterday in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 91, her spokesman said. Williams, one of the biggest box-office stars of the 1940s and 1950s, died peacefully in her sleep and had been ...

Danish director to adapt ‘Fables’ comics for cinema

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 09:58:29 GMT

NEW YORK, June 6 — The motion picture adaptation of the comic book series "Fables" looks likely to materialize now that Nikolaj Arcel has signed on, reports The Hollywood Reporter. The Danish director's attachment puts the project back on track for the cinema after plans for a TV series were derailed by the 2011 advent of "Once Upon a Time," a ...

Stephen Fry reveals suicide bid last year

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 04:46:34 GMT

LONDON, June 6 — British actor Stephen Fry attempted suicide last year, he said during a podcast interview yesterday in which he talked openly about his on-going battle with mental illness. Fry, 55, told comedian Richard Herring in the interview in front of a live audience that he was “a victim of my own moods” and that he was required to take ...

Helena Bonham Carter goes glam to play Liz Taylor

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 00:38:12 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 6 — British actress Helena Bonham Carter will play late screen icon Elizabeth Taylor in a TV movie that will explore Taylor’s tempestuous relationship with actor Richard Burton which captivated audiences and headlines. The first photograph of Bonham Carter as Taylor and British actor Dominic West as Burton was released by BBC ...

Michael Jackson’s daughter attempted suicide, mother says

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 23:33:16 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 6 — Paris Jackson, the 15-year-old daughter of late pop star Michael Jackson, was rushed to a Los Angeles-area hospital yesterday after an apparent suicide attempt, her mother said, but her family later reported she is “physically fine.” “Paris is physically fine and is getting appropriate medical attention,” Perry Sanders, an ...

Sting returns to his childhood for new musical, album

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 14:15:35 GMT

LONDON, June 5 — Sting has turned back to his childhood in the shadow of a struggling shipyard in northern England for a musical that will debut on Broadway next year and his first album of original material in 10 years. The musical, "The Last Ship", is based on Sting's experiences of living near the Swan Hunter Shipyard in Wallsend, Newcastle, ...

Helen Mirren to teach French cuisine in film

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 07:26:49 GMT

HOLLYWOOD, June 5 — English movie star Helen Mirren is to teach a young Indian rival the ropes of French cooking in a film by Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom (“Safe Haven”, “The Cider House Rules”), reports Deadline.com. Based on the novel of the same name by Richard C. Morais, “The Hundred-Foot Journey” tells the success story of Hassan Haji, ...

Bollywood starlet Jiah Khan found dead at Mumbai home

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 06:46:40 GMT

MUMBAI, June 5 — Bollywood actress Jiah Khan was found dead at her home in Mumbai, police said yesterday. Khan, 25, was found hanged in her room on Monday night by her mother with a post mortem to be carried out to establish the cause of death, a Mumbai police official said. But a police source said the death was not being treated as suspicious as ...

British actress Kate Winslet expecting third child

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 03:11:56 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 5 – British actress Kate Winslet is pregnant with her third child and first with husband Ned Rocknroll, a spokeswoman for the Oscar winner said yesterday. Winslet, 37, gave birth to a daughter in 2000 with film director Jim Threapleton and a son in 2003 with film director Sam Mendes. The “Titanic” star, who won an Academy Award ...

Singer LeAnn Rimes bares ‘emotional truth’ on new album

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 01:27:23 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, June 5 – No subject is taboo for country singer LeAnn Rimes as she digs deep into her soul on her new album “Spitfire”. The 30-year-old Grammy Award winner and former child star who had a hit song at age 13, said she wrote the deepest lyrics she has ever written on the album. Some of the songs are about her relationship ...

Lou Reed says he is ‘bigger and stronger’ after liver transplant

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 23:46:28 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 4 — Lou Reed says he is “bigger and stronger than ever” after a life saving liver transplant and is looking forward to getting back to performing on stage. “I am a triumph of modern medicine, physics and chemistry,” the 71-year-old rocker said on his website after his wife revealed news of the transplant at the weekend. “I am ...

Soul singer Sharon Jones says she has cancer, postpones album

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 23:41:34 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 4 — Soul group Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings on Monday postponed the release of its forthcoming album and tour after Jones was diagnosed with early-stage bile duct cancer, according to a statement on the band's website. The singer, 57, is to undergo surgery, and is expected to make a full recovery but will require a "lengthy" ...

Marvel woos ‘Doctor Who’ redhead for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 15:11:16 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 3 ― Actress Karen Gillian is going to play the super-villain in the super-hero outer-space flick “Guardians of the Galaxy,” reveals The Hollywood Reporter. Karen Gillian, a 25-year-old Scottish redhead, made her breakthrough portraying Amy Pond for three seasons in the BBC science fiction series “Doctor Who.” She is now going ...

‘Fast & Furious’ tops North America box office again

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 13:30:24 GMT

LOS ANGELES, June 3 ― “Fast & Furious 6” retained the top spot at the North America box office at the weekend, estimates showed Sunday, ahead of “Now You See Me,” a crime caper starring Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine. The action franchise sequel featuring Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez took US$34.5 million (RM103.5 million) at theatres, ...

Bob Dylan set to be awarded France’s Legion d’Honneur

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 12:52:56 GMT

PARIS, June 3 ― American singer Bob Dylan may soon be awarded France's highest distinction, the Legion d'Honneur, after his nomination was reportedly first tossed out over his marijuana use and opposition to the Vietnam War. The green light given by the Legion d'Honneur's council means France's minister of culture may soon decorate Dylan - a ...